


The Magic of the Bookstore Clerk from across the Street

by sky_fish



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Drama, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-26
Updated: 2013-12-26
Packaged: 2018-01-06 05:35:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1103021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_fish/pseuds/sky_fish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s been two years since Sho and Ohno opened the “Cup'n'Cake” together. Business is quite good as well as the relationship of the couple. At least until the new bookstore clerk from the neighborhood starts showing up in the shop at a regular basis, distracting not only the female customers of the coffee shop with his magic tricks but Sho as well. A story about three men and their twisted feelings and about falling in and out of love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Magic of the Bookstore Clerk from across the Street

**Author's Note:**

  * For [obstilation](https://archiveofourown.org/users/obstilation/gifts).



It already had been more than two years since Sakurai Sho opened his own coffee shop together with Ohno Satoshi. The “Cup’n’Cake” since then was famous for their delicious coffee, which was always freshly made by Ohno himself, the sweet and cute looking cup cakes which they bought daily at the popular bakery “J’s pastries” from the end of the street and other, by Ohno self-made sweets. While Ohno was in charge of drinks and food, Sho’s task was to take the orders and to serve their customers. Not only because he was a nice guy and a perfect gentleman, but also because he just had no talent at all with preparing food. Those two young men weren’t only a perfect team when it came to work but also a perfect match regarding love. At least that was, what Sho thought at the beginning. 

Lately, Sho got the feeling that he started to annoy his boyfriend. He was indeed not talented with making food and so he was no big help to Ohno in the kitchen. Soon, Ohno had developed the habit to get quite upset towards Sho because of that and started scolding him a lot. Sho hated to get scolded because he knew his own mistakes but always tried to give his best. And he hated that he disappointed the man he loved that much.

The biggest problem was, that Sho, being shy but being friendly to everyone, had gained popularity among the customers, females as well as males, and Ohno soon exposed a grumpy and jealous side of his character, Sho didn't know that existed. Of course Sho did never really flirt with anyone of their customers and going out with someone else was the last thing Sho wanted to do. He didn’t even think about betraying his boyfriend, not only once, but Ohno sometimes just couldn’t control his feelings and so the mood between them slowly became more and more complicated. 

At work, even if a customer was only flashing a friendly smile to Sho, Sho earned annoyed glances from his boyfriend. The bad mood at work finally started to spread from the shop to Sho’s and Ohno’s private life, which usually took place upstairs in their small apartment above the shop. Ohno started to withdraw from Sho and to focus on his hobbies, like painting, and so Sho had no other choice than to devote himself to his hobbies in their spare time as well. Sho liked reading, especially novels, new ones but also old literature. First, he was quite depressed, seeing his relationship with Ohno slowly getting cracks but distracting himself with his favorite books seemed to help curing his lovesickness – or at least helped to push his sorrow aside for a while. 

Of course they didn’t want to break up. They were together now for about five years and Sho still loved Ohno more than anyone else. Ohno as well vowed his love to Sho, when they made up after another fight and whispered assuring words into his lover’s ear, late at night, when the lights were off and Ohno embraced Sho from behind, letting his soft, beautiful hands - that Sho loved so much - run over his boyfriend’s body.

Sho was sure that their relationship could handle their problems and he swore to himself that he would work even harder so that Ohno could be proud of him and didn’t have any reasons to get annoyed. Sho didn’t know, that soon after their first struggles something much bigger and something much more dangerous would happen in their life, which could probably throw their relationship off course.

\-----

It was an early morning in late October and the leaves from the trees which were lined up the street had already fallen down and built red-yellow piles of leaves. Sho smiled through the shop window, as he saw two small kittens playing hide and seek within the colored leaves in front of the shop’s door as he put down the chairs from the numerous tables and prepared the shop for opening hour. 

“Good morning, Satoshi,” he said with a soft smile on his lips as his boyfriend came downstairs, yawning and ruffling his brown hair. 

As always in the morning, Ohno was quite sleepy and the first thing he did after nodding towards Sho to acknowledge his morning greetings was going to the coffee machine to brew the first round of coffee – just for the two of them.

Sho was reading a book, sitting at one of the tables and facing outside to the street which slowly but surely got busy by the shop owners next door and a handful of early customers, heading for example to Ohno’s best friend Jun’s bakery, as Ohno brought two large mugs of coffee along and settled down next to Sho to accompany him. As always, it was black coffee for Ohno - in order to make him wake up properly - and milk coffee for Sho.

“I love your coffee,” Sho flashed a smile to his boyfriend and enjoyed the nice smell of the fresh hot drink, followed by the first sip.

“My pleasure, if it makes you happy,” Ohno answered, smiling back tiredly and leaned a bit forward to place a small kiss on Sho’s cheek.

A few minutes later, as Sho had already returned to his book, Ohno let out some kind of derogative laughter. As Sho looked up and gave him a questioning look, his boyfriend pointed outside through the shop window. Sho spotted a yellow van with brown lettering and illustrations on it, which had come to halt on the other side of the street just right now.

“How flashy,” Ohno commented, squinting his eyes in disgust, before he finished his coffee and got up to get ready.

“Yeah…,” Sho replied but instead of Ohno’s disgusted reaction, he showed a small amused smile. 

That van was a bit flashy, indeed, but it was cute. Sho’s eyes got caught by the illustration on the yellow car. It showed an old looking book - opened and beautiful patterns spreading out of the inside of the pages as if the story which got told would come to life. Small, lively looking ranks of leaves finally enlaced the lettering which was read “Antiques & Books”. 

“I’m off, getting the cupcakes for today,” Ohno finally said as he came back from behind the counter and Sho nodded.

“Take care and give my regards to Jun.”

Ohno took his jacket, scarf and cap from the hat stand next to the door and accompanied by the familiar jingling noise that usually announced the coming and going of their customers, he was sent out into the cold morning.

Sho saw his boyfriend rushing by the window, before his sight got caught by the yellow car from across the street again. In the meantime, a young man, wearing a brown coat and brown, elegant shoes, a black hat, thick framed glasses and a huge beige-brown striped scarf, had already gotten off the car. He seemed busy with unloading tons of boxes, some looking quite heavy as they obviously were filled up to the edge with books. After a few minutes, the van seemed emptied; the young man hopped into the car again and carefully drove it out of the street. Sho looked at the countless boxes standing there now and wondered, if it was OK if they were just standing there, without getting watched. 

Taking a closer look, Sho realized that there was that empty shop behind the boxes, the shop which was empty ever since he and Ohno moved to this area. He didn’t know what kind of shop it had been before but now it just looked old and dirty. Was it possible, that…

Sho took his own coat and the billboard for the shop and took it with him outside. He placed it in front of the door at the right angle to attract as many customers as possible and started writing their special offer of today onto the cupboard hanging next to the entrance, but still he was distracted by the goods across the street. Maybe, he was just too curious because it were books. After all, he loved books.

Finally, the young driver from the flashy van came walking back. He bowed slightly towards Sho, when he noticed him, taking off his hat and flashing an adorable smile towards him, wishing him a good morning. Sho just stood there and hastily replied with the same gesture, staring at the young man. He didn’t know what it was but something about that guy seemed to catch his attention. He was a bit smaller and skinnier than Sho, at least a few years younger, regarding his youthful look and his soft skin. His hair was dark black and a bit long, curling around his ears in a really cute way and hiding his forehead behind bangs. His innocent brown eyes, looking at Sho through the black framed glasses, reminded Sho on a pet, somehow. A cat, or maybe, a puppy. 

The young man stepped in front of the empty shop door and fiddled something out of his pocket. A key, Sho assumed, and he was right. The young man unlocked the door and cursed as he dropped the keys afterwards. He bent down to pick them up and entered the old, dusty shop, sneezed once, twice and pulled out something heavy of the room, to keep the door open. Then he began to carry in the boxes standing in front of the shop.

After watching this three times and cleaning the shop windows of the “Cup’n’Cake” a bit, Sho finally went across the street. The moment he wanted to step forward to introduce himself to the new neighbor and to offer some help for carrying his stuff, Ohno came back, holding a large box from “J’s pastries”. The new guy was inside his shop, the moment Ohno dragged Sho back into their coffee shop. 

“Come on, Sho, we have to get ready!” he scolded his boyfriend and Sho, looking at the shop in front of him for a last time, followed him. Well, there would be other chances to get to know the new guy.

“Did you know that the empty shop across the street get’s opened again? At least it looks like, did you see all that stuff?” Sho asked excited as he prepared some dishes while Ohno made a few sweets for their first customers.

“Yeah, Jun told me already two weeks ago. You didn’t know? Seems like the new guy came examining the shop during our last holiday vacation. His name is Nino-mi-, Ninomiya or something like that if I recall it correctly.”

“Ah, I see…,” so that was why Sho didn’t know about that. He didn’t pay much attention to the neighborhood’s gossip and his friend Aiba Masaki from the flower shop next door didn’t tell him anything. Well, that might be because he was all busy with dealing with the shop and the new baby girl that his wife had given birth to just a few weeks ago. 

“Should we invite him for a cup of coffee?” Sho suggested but Ohno just shrugged his shoulders.

“I guess if he likes coffee, he’ll show up sooner or later on his own,” he answered.

Sho nodded. Ohno was right. Almost all of their neighbors were regular customers in the shop. Aiba, who entered just a second later, looking dead tired and immediately ordering an espresso, was the best proof for that.

\-----

The new guy didn’t show up again this day, Sho noticed, since he seemed just too busy with his new shop and unpacking stuff. Therefore, the next day, the new guy was already hanging up the signboard for his shop, standing on an unsteady ladder, which made Sho a bit nervous as he already imagined the young man falling down. Just the moment he wanted to go outside to offer his help, he saw Aiba came running to hold the ladder. The young man thanked him with an adorable smile and finished hanging up his signboard, which showed the same graphic and lettering as his yellow van, even if the signboard itself wasn’t yellow but in a light shade of brown – fortunately – like Ohno commented a few hours later as he looked at it.

The day after, the new guy was already up when Sho got downstairs to continue reading his book. His name was Ninomiya Kazunari, as Aiba - who already had become friends with him and just called him “Nino” - had told Sho the former evening during his daily late afternoon stop at the coffee shop. As always, Sho sat at the table near the shop window, his book in his hands and waiting for Ohno to come down and make some coffee. From this point of view, he could see that Nino was already cleaning the shop windows and setting up some stuff. Sho had to admit, that he was quite interested in which kind of shop this one would turn into. He loved books and the design looked nice and he hoped that the shop would open soon. 

And indeed, the shop opened the next morning. It was sunny and warm and Nino had prepared everything really well. The signboard was shining, all shop windows were clean so that from outside it was easy to see a lot of things that were lined up to call the customers as well as some tightly filled bookshelves and on a small table in front of the shop there were placed two boxes filled with second hand books, offered for half price as an opening special. The shop looked a bit playful – even if not flashy – and gave off a really nice and nostalgic feeling. It was really inviting, even more, when Nino opened the door so that everyone could come in directly. He exited his shop and put down a billboard in antique style as well to announce the opening of the shop. A few white and yellow balloons were tied onto the billboard to make it a bit more eye catching. Sho smiled. The new small shop seemed to fit perfectly into the autumnal scenery of their little shopping street. He couldn’t wait to visit it. 

Nino, after placing the billboard, went a few steps back and looked at his shop, nodding satisfied and then going back to the inside. He came back; wearing a beige apron with the shop’s logo sewed onto it and leaned in the entry, maybe to wait for his very first customer. Sho noticed that the young man was holding a card deck in his hands which he started to shuffle in a really skilled way. 

As Nino let his eyes wonder around the street and finally recognized Sho sitting in the “Cup’n’Cake” across the street, he smiled friendly and bowed a little to greet him and Sho smiling lifted his cup of coffee, combining that gesture with a greeting nod. 

It wasn’t the last time that the two of them greeted each other from out of their shops, exchanging smiles or waving hands and somehow it became a habit of Sho to look outside of the shop window from time to time during work, just to search for the young man. Sho couldn’t prevent from smiling broadly every time he saw Nino bending down in front of his shop to pet the kittens straying around in the area, or when he sat down onto the last step of the stairs to his shop to play cards with some curious kids, his face lightening up from a smile, as if he was a child himself.

\-----

Of course, it didn’t take long until Nino finally showed up at the “Cup’n’Cake” and so Sho wasn’t surprised to see him entering the shop a few days later around midday – the closing hours of the bookstore – along with the jingle from the entrance. 

“Welcome,” Sho smiled friendly and showed a gesture to lead his customer in, just like he always did.

Nino flashed his typical adorable smile at Sho which the other already knew quite too well. Nevertheless, seeing it from so close now was new and exciting, Sho had to admit. As he already thought from looking at the young man from afar, he was really handsome. His eyes were deep brown and looked mysterious and friendly at the same time. His nose was cute and his lips were just adorable, even more when he formed them to that cute smirk that seemed to be his trademark. A dark mole was places on his chin and Sho could spot a few more on that guy's incredible soft skin. He cleared his throat to get his thoughts away from his customer again and offered a table at the shop window but Nino seemed to have other plans for now. 

Suddenly, the young man pulled off the hat he was wearing and unexpectedly, loads of colorful flowers spilled out of the hat. Sho’s eyes went bigger and bigger at the surprise.

“Woah, how did you do that?!“ he was obviously impressed by the young man's trick and Nino just looked at him with a broad smile as he took the bouquet of beautiful colored chrysanthemums out of his hat – picking up some dropped flowers as well - and gave them to Sho.

“You can keep them. For decorating your shop or something like that,” the young man said as Sho blushed a little and took the flowers.

“Really? Thank you!” Sho smiled happily and Nino smiled in return.

“I got them from the “Flower Power” shop next door,” Nino stated, making a pointing gesture to the side, “Their flowers are really beautiful, aren’t they?”

Sho nodded, still smiling.

“What’s going on here?” suddenly a voice behind Sho asked curiously. 

Ohno approached him, coming out from behind the counter where he just had refilled the coffee beans, spotting the flowers in Sho’s arms as he interrupted the conversation. He shot a serious look at Nino and frowned. Sho gulped, looking a bit nervous and guilty at the flowers in his arms, as if he already knew what was coming now.

“What are you trying to do, magical tricks or presenting flowers to my boyfriend?” Ohno asked in an obviously not so amused voice, tilting his head and Nino just lifted one eyebrow in question.

“O-Oh!” Nino’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth, his lips then slowly formed a smile. He chuckled, lifted his hand and scratched his ear, tousling the hair curling around it even more. Sho noticed the tips of Nino’s ears being deep red. Must be cold outside today. 

“Satoshi,” Sho let out a small sigh. That had been a bit too direct, maybe.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know that you two –,“ Nino began. 

“Yes, _we_ two,” Ohno interrupted him immediately, stepping even closer to Sho to put an arm around his waist.

“Satoshi, please, we have customers,” Sho hissed, turning his face to him, as he felt the other customers starting to glance at them curiously. It’s not like their relationship was a secret and Sho knew that most of their customers and neighbors might know about it, but it wasn’t fitting to openly show the situation like that. 

Ohno let his eyes wander over Nino from head to toes critically before the other lifted his hands as if he would turn himself in after committing a crime, accompanying that gesture with a smirk to lighten up the situation.

“Don’t worry Mister, I just wanted to bring something for becoming good neighbors, since I’m new here, you know – the antique bookstore across the street? I’m the owner, Ninomiya Kazunari. Nice to meet you, you can call me Nino.”

“I know who you are,” Ohno cut the other man’s words, “We saw you already. You’re that guy with the flashy van.”

Sho started laughing as he felt the air still being tense between those two and petting his boyfriend’s shoulder, he tried to calm him down.

“Nice to meet you too, just don’t pay too much attention to him, he’s just a little sleepy and grumpy, you know? This is Ohno Satoshi by the way and I’m Sakurai Sho. We’re the owners of this coffee shop,” he bowed slightly and pushed Ohno back behind the counter, murmuring something at him that Nino couldn’t hear, “Could you please behave yourself a little more? He didn’t do anything and you’re scaring our customers with such an awful attitude!”

Ohno forced himself to smile and finally asked the curiously staring Nino, what he wanted to drink.

“Black coffee - to go, please,” the young man answered with a fake smile in return, not without noticing Ohno’s fake smile instantly crumbling off to a disgusted look, when Sho joyfully repeated Nino’s offer to him.

After Ohno filled the paper cup, Sho reached it out to Nino, smiling friendly and as Nino asked for the price and started fumbling around in his coat’s pocket, Sho just waved his hand.

“Don’t bother, it’s on the house. Let’s say as a small welcome gift. Let’s be good neighbors!” 

“Alright, thank you very much,” Nino bowed slightly and took the paper cup in his hands, Sho couldn’t prevent his heart from jumping a little as soon as Nino’s fingertips touched his hand.

Nino flashed a last cute smile at Sho and shot a critical look towards Ohno, before he turned around and opened the shop’s door to leave.

“Don’t come again…” Ohno murmured from behind the coffee machine and Sho wasn’t sure, if Nino had heard that. 

The young man had turned around a last time, his eyes questioning but the jingle from the shop door might have drowned Ohno’s grumpy comment. Sho looked quite embarrassed though and so he hurriedly followed Nino outside, letting a dumbfounded Ohno standing alone in the shop but he didn’t mind right now. 

“I’m really sorry. Please come again!” Sho called out to Nino to hold him back, apologizing for Ohno’s behavior.

Nino turned around while walking and just lifted his cup of coffee with a smile, “Don’t worry, my body will call out for caffeine again soon. Thanks for the treat!”

“Ah- won’t you try one of “J’s pastries” famous cupcakes as well? I’ll get you one for free,” Sho offered as he figured that the coffee might not have been enough.

“Thanks but I usually don’t eat sweets,” Nino declined politely with a small laughter, “If you’re interested, come to visit my shop when you’re free.”

“Of course!” Sho smiled.

When he returned to the shop, Ohno shot him with death glares and decided to ignore Sho for the rest of the day as much as he could. Sho sighed. He was just polite to a new neighbor, that’s all, right? No need for Ohno to get jealous about something like kindness and politeness.

\-----

“You like that guy, don’t you?” Ohno asked Sho a few days later, as they ate dinner upstairs. 

Ohno had cooked pasta for the two of them while Sho had made the side dish salad, he was currently choking on. He made a grimace - too much vinegar.

“Hm? Who do I like?” Sho asked canting, as he recovered, reaching for the salt shaker to counterattack the sourness of his and Ohno’s salad.

Ohno put down his fork and spoon as if he had lost his appetite and stared at Sho with an upset look. Sho put down the salt shaker as well, didn’t dare touching his meal and just stared back, his heartbeat increasing as he started to get nervous. He already knew this situation. It had already happened sometimes. Usually he didn't get what Ohno was after, but this time was the first time, Sho could actually imagine, why Ohno was asking, because his thoughts immediately jumped to one special person, even if he didn’t like that and of course would never admit.

“You know, who I’m talking about, Sho,” Ohno’s voice raised a little and Sho stiffened, “That new guy, that Nino-guy. Do you think I don’t notice how you two are looking at each other?”

Sho bit his lower lip and got himself through to take the salt shaker up again, “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he just murmured.

“Don’t take me for a fool, Sho, I’m not blind,” Ohno insisted and slammed his hands onto the table so that Sho cringed in surprise, “He’s obviously flirting with you and you are answering that! I already watched that for a few days and didn’t say anything but enough is enough!”

“He’s not flirting and I’m not…” Sho murmured, frowning.

“He _is_!”

Well, maybe Nino was flirting a little with Sho or something. At least, he was just being nice. And maybe, Sho even liked that. Nino was an attractive man, he was friendly and interesting. And that someone like that might be flirting with him, gave Sho at least a bit of self confidence. Couldn’t hurt from time to time to push your ego a little but that didn’t mean that Sho was flirting back – or being friendlier to him as to anyone else - what he definitely was not. Not in front of his boyfriend and not, if he was leading a happy relationship to begin with. Well, a more or less happy relationship to put it straight. 

“Come on, Satoshi, what’s that again?! If it’s like you say I would be flirting with every single customer that enters our shop. You’re just imagining things, I never do that and you know that! We had this conversation already hundreds of times!” Sho shot back, even if his voice was trembling a bit nervously.

He knew Ohno’s behavior like that and he hated it. Getting accused even if he didn’t do anything happened quite too often lately. He hated it so much to know that Ohno seemed to be unable to trust him even if he never ever gave him a motive to distrust him -never. Sho reached out his slightly trembling hand over the table and put it on top of Ohno’s clenched fist. 

“I love you. I would never flirt with others or betray you. You know that,” Sho whispered and after letting out a huge sigh, Ohno relaxed again and intertwined his beautiful fingers with Sho’s.

“You should really get a hold of your jealousy problem,” Sho pouted.

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” Ohno murmured but pulled his fingers away.

Sho could feel a sting of rejection in his heart and started wondering, how long their relationship would last on the current basis.

\-----

“Did you already check Nino’s shop?” Sho asked one morning a bit nervous as he watched the young man from across the street preparing for the shop opening. It was one of the probably last sunny autumn days so putting some books outside was no problem instead of the last days when it rained pretty heavily.

“No,” Ohno wondered from behind the counter while he was preparing his and Sho’s morning coffee. He frowned, “Why should I?”

“I was just thinking that he opened already more than two weeks ago and it was so busy that I still couldn’t take a peek into the shop so far. It looks so nice, it makes me curious. Besides, I could need some new books,” Sho stated, pointing at the almost finished book lying on his table, “I guess I’ll take a look this afternoon. Won’t you come along with me? I’m sure, Nino would be happy.” 

Actually, Sho didn’t go there even if Nino had already invited him a few times, because he didn’t want Ohno to get suspicious and jealous again. Instead, now he wanted to offer him to come along to be able to keep an eye on them and to make sure that Sho wasn’t flirting or whatever Ohno thought Sho was doing.

A loud clank came from Ohno’s direction and surprised, Sho turned around to take a look what had happened. The other man had obviously smashed one of their coffee mugs onto the ground. Sho stiffened and his eyes shyly searched for eye-contact with Ohno but the other man just had lowered his gaze.

“Stop talking about him in such a familiar way,” Ohno murmured.

“What?” Sho wasn’t sure if he got what Ohno had said.

“I said, STOP TALKING ABOUT HIM IN SUCH A FAMILIAR WAY!” Ohno repeated, raising his voice in anger along with his head so that his angry and Sho’s unease eyes finally met.

First, Sho didn’t answer and just stared at him in disbelieve. His heart started racing nervously.

“What did I say wrong this time, Satoshi?” Sho finally asked in a low voice, trying not to make his boyfriend even angrier. 

“How long do you know that guy - for 2 weeks? And you call him by that stupid nickname already just because he offered that once? His name is Ninomiya, NINOMIYA, NOT NINO!” Ohno finally exploded, “How well do you know each other? Is there something you didn’t tell me? You know what?! You can go buy your stupid books on your own, then I won’t interrupt your stupid flirting,” Ohno hissed and clenched his fists, “And you can make your stupid white coffee on your own as well!”

Without picking up the scattered pieces of the ruined coffee mug, Ohno rushed upstairs. Sho could hear the door to their apartment banging and still not really understanding what just had happened, he just sat there and stared at the stairs. He then sighed deeply and started biting his lips, trying to calm down his heartbeat but it seemed impossible. Sometimes he just didn’t get his boyfriend. They already talked about that. So why was he so jealous and exploded like that? Just because Sho was interested in Nino’s shop and called him by his nickname like everyone else in the street already did? 

When Ohno returned to the shop a bit later, Sho had already cleaned up the scattered pieces of the coffee mug, Ohno had dropped – of course it had been Sho’s mug. He and Ohno didn’t exchange one single word that day expect from orders from their customers and such necessary stuff. Ohno seemed to be still angry at Sho and Sho now had reached the phase of pouting. He didn’t see why he should apologize or explain himself to his boyfriend. He didn’t do anything wrong at least. To the contrary, he had tried to consider Ohno’s feelings and to make things easier but well, if the other didn’t want to compromise, then it wasn’t Sho’s problem.

\-----

In the afternoon, when the shop didn’t seem too busy any longer, Sho excused himself to take a look at Nino’s shop and left while Ohno had to serve a few last customers. He left with two paper cups of coffee – one for Nino and one for himself. Ohno didn’t dare complaining, since he knew that he had acted childish and Sho would be only buying some books, that’s why he was going there, right? He wasn’t interested in Nino after all, at least that was what he had told Ohno already a couple of times, right?

After closing the shop about half an hour later, Ohno went buying a new coffee mug for Sho but as he came back and could see Sho and Nino still chatting cheerfully about whatever he couldn’t hear from outside through the shop window of the “Antique & Books”, he couldn’t ignore that piercing feeling inside his chest - the anger towards Nino as well as towards Sho - which was building up deep inside of him again. He couldn’t prevent that feeling from occurring, even if he tried to recall Sho’s vowing of love towards him. Ohno just couldn’t bear looking at them any longer, smiling, exchanging looks he couldn’t really interpret, talking and talking and talking as much as Ohno and Sho didn’t talk for a long time. As he couldn’t handle this overwhelming jealousy any longer that he felt from seeing another man fascinating his Sho that much, he felt the urge to burst into the bookshop, beating up Nino and pulling Sho out of the shop. Ohno clenched his fists, turned around again and a few minutes later returned the mug to the shop before he headed back at home, to wait there for Sho.

\-----

Sho didn’t notice the time flying by as he stood there in Nino’s shop, gazing at all those old books with amazed eyes, excitedly exchanging some random chats about random books with the owner of the shop. It was amazing, how much Nino knew about books and different authors. He knew so much more than Sho that Sho couldn’t stop asking for details, opinions about specific books and for recommendations by the young man. He could never talk to Ohno about his books, since the other was completely uninterested in literature, so it was really fun to talk about his hobby after such a long time. It was amazing and exciting to just talk about books with Nino and of course it didn’t have to do anything with the fact that it was Nino, he was talking to.

Sho tried to ignore the happiness increasing deep inside of him every time Nino’s beautiful eyes lightened up as he discussed some of his favorite stories with Sho. He tried to ignore how light and fluttering his heart felt every time Nino’s lips – really beautiful lips – curled up into a smile and tried to ignore, how beautiful Nino’s laughter sounded in his ears. Well, he didn’t have to feel that guilty, did he? Nino was indeed a handsome man and Sho liked men, so it wasn’t surprising that he had recognized that man’s handsomeness. He would never betray Ohno; no matter how handsome Nino might ever be and no matter how often Ohno accused him of doing something like that. He was just looking and talking. Nothing more. That should be allowed, right? But why was he feeling guilty then towards Ohno so that the feeling of happiness while spending time with Nino every time got mixed up with some bitter side taste?

\-----

That night, after lots of hours of talking with Nino, Sho found Ohno sitting on the couch in front of the television, still waiting, wrapped up in a thin blanket.

“Where have you been so long?” Ohno asked in a low voice, as Sho entered the living room, “Must have been fun talking with that guy.”

“I’m sorry,” Sho said and failed smiling disastrously, “I forgot the time…”

“I cooked dinner but you didn’t show up and you didn’t answer your phone either, so I threw it away,” Ohno continued and stood up, letting the blanket slip from his shoulders.

“Ah – you could have kept it in the fridge, I would have loved to eat your food another time,” Sho answered, “Sorry for not calling, my phone was on mute.”

Ohno approached Sho, his eyes dark and his face all serious. Sho wasn’t sure if he should back off and just leave Ohno alone for the rest of the night or if he should apologize again. He already prepared for Ohno’s scolding, ranting, accusing him that Sho would be cheating on him, but nothing like that happened. Ohno just came closer and stopped in front of Sho so that their faces were only a few cm apart.

“I say it clear and I say it the last time because you are supposed to know that anyways,” Sho hissed and let his slim fingers grab Sho’s wrists, pressing them a little too tight for Sho’s taste, “You are mine. Only mine. You get it?”

That night, it was the first time that Sho didn’t like it how he and Ohno made love. Usually it felt great, didn’t matter if it was passionate or gentle, Ohno always knew what to do to make Sho melt in his arms, to make him beg for more. But this time Sho just felt the anger and the possession of Ohno, who clearly showed Sho, that he was indeed belonging to him in every way. Even as Sho begged him to stop, Ohno didn’t but continued to thrust into Sho’s already weak feeling body until he was satisfied, not caring about his boyfriend’s displeasure at all. 

That night, Sho stood up awake a long time, curling up on the couch in the living room alone, feeling sore and trying to distract his sorrow with a random late night TV show but he just could shed silent tears from his aching heart, wondering, when and more than that, why Ohno had changed so much since the beginning. Was this still the man he loved? He wasn’t that sure about that any longer and that made him sad. It didn’t help, that Sho could see the silhouettes of Nino through the curtains from the apartment across the street, who seemed to be still awake as well, reading or something like that. Sho’s heart clenched even more as he felt guilty for the upcoming wish of being at Nino’s side right now. Maybe he deserved what he got, he thought, shedding some more tears.

The next morning, Sho had to make his coffee on his own again.

\-----

The days constantly got darker and the warm sunny weather soon was replaced by cloudy days and when the end of the year came closer, even a little snow fell in town. The homeless kittens of the neighborhood started playing with the white wonder that kept falling from the sky instead of hiding in the autumn’s leaves and the colder it got the more Sho’s and Ohno’s business bloomed since there was nothing better than a hot coffee or a cup of hot chocolate to warm your hands and your throat during a shopping tour on a cold winter day. 

Ohno tried to ignore Nino as much as he could. It was obvious that those two didn’t get along well with each other and Sho knew why. He often sighed because the situation was as always uncomfortable and he was in between all of this but he didn’t want to be so impolite to ask Nino to not come to their shop again since he already was a regular customer and – even if he would never admit that – Sho liked it to have him around. Somehow, that man’s presence gave him a heartwarming feeling. He was nice, his laughing was just adorable and his charming nature made him feel comfortable. 

Sho knew that Ohno hated it, when Nino spent time in the “Cup’n’Cake”and Nino knew that as well. Sho tried to keep some distance between him and Nino, to not annoy Ohno too much. It was in his own favor as well since he was the one suffering from Ohno’s bad mood all day long, after all. Nino seemed to understand the situation and had kept contact to Sho limited at first but soon he became annoyed of the situation and wasn’t willing to consider Ohno and his mood that much any longer. So Nino kept dropping by to grab a coffee – even if sometimes only to go – and chatting a bit with Sho, since he was stubborn, didn't want to neglect the growing friendship between him and Sho and maybe even wanted to tease Ohno a bit for his jealous behavior. 

Then, Nino started to angle for attention and to bring his deck of cards with him. Sho first didn’t know what it was for but soon he realized, that Nino didn’t bring it just to shuffle cards and play Old Maid, no, his hands were able to do much more stunning things with those cards and everything he did was catching attention, at least the attention of Sho’s and Ohno’s customers – and of Sho. 

This day, Nino did it again. He had closed his shop a bit earlier and headed over to the coffee shop, spreading a few notes and a book onto his usual table, just a few minutes after he had ordered his usual black coffee. Then he had put out the deck of cards and quickly shuffled them again and again, spread them to a fan, put them together, made two piles of cards out of it, then four and put them quickly together again – just to warm up. 

A few customers – a group of young women – quickly got attracted by Nino’s skillful card shuffling and approached him until two of them were sitting at his table to see better. They applauded and cheered for Nino and he smiled his adorable smile and looked at the girls challenging as he tried a few other tricks like letting them take cards he had to find then without looking or changing the color of a card right in front of their eyes out of nowhere. Sho couldn’t pretend not to be interested in what Nino was doing. He had always been one of those who quickly felt entertained and fascinated and the fact that he watched Nino doing those tricks over and over again already and that he still didn’t understand the tricks, made Sho fidgety.

After the girls had finished their third round of coffee, they finally left the shop, waving happily to Nino as well as to Sho and Ohno, promising that they would come again soon and that they would tell their friends about this delicious and entertaining shop. Sho smiled thankfully and bowed as he bid his customers farewell and then went to Nino’s table to take away the used dishes. Nino was still shuffling his cards.

“That’s pretty amazing what you’re doing with those cards, are you a hobby magician?” Sho asked curiously.

“Yeah, kinda,” Nino answered a bit embarrassed and lifted his hand to scratch his ear, “I like it to distract my thoughts. When I’m not reading books I like practicing some tricks. It’s interesting to learn them and to see then how people react when I do them.”

Sho nodded understanding and focused onto the cards in Nino’s hand with big interest.

“Wanna see one just for you?” Nino pointed at the deck of cards in his hands, flashing a smirk to Sho and of course, the other man nodded eagerly and put down the dishes onto the next table to pick them up later, his eyes shining from curious expectations.

“Alright,” Nino continued, clearing his throat and then bit his lower lip, looking a bit nervous.

He showed Sho to sit down at the opposite side of the table and started shuffling his cards again on an incredible speed. The young man put the cards down onto the table - backside facing up - and with a quick movement of his left hand he spread the cards to a fan. He lifted it and now showed his viewer the cards, the numbers facing Sho, the back of the cards facing him. Nino searched for eye-contact and after exchanging a smile with Sho, he let the fingertips of one of his hands ghost over the fan of cards, feeling the material slightly tickling his skin.

“Pick one card,” Nino invited Sho as he put away his hand again, a mysterious smirk dancing on his lips, which irritated Sho a bit more than he thought it should, “Any card you like.”

“Alright…” Sho murmured and reached out his hand. He was still keeping eye-contact with the young man in front of him who then lifted his free hand to cover his eyes.

“Just take it in your hand, look at it, make sure you don’t show it to me – well, I can’t see it anyways like this –“, the young man chuckled, “and then put it back somewhere in between the other cards.”

Sho did as instructed, put one of the cards in his hands, making sure that Nino couldn’t see a bit of it and then put it back into the fan of cards again. It was the king of hearts. Nino pushed the cards together to form a pile again and then offered it to Sho who gave Nino a puzzled look.

“Shuffle them – back facing up of course -,” Nino invited him and Sho pointed at himself in disbelieve until Nino gave him an assuring smile, “It’s to show you that I didn’t do any tricks or swindle. Even if I didn't see it, I know your card anyways and I know where it is. You will be the one, helping me to expose it to make sure that I didn’t do anything with my hands.”

When Sho took the cards, Nino lifted his hands and showed them to Sho, turning them, pulling back his sleeves a bit, “You see? No trick, no swindle.”

Sho started shuffling the cards while Nino closed his eyes. He pushed back his slightly slipped glasses onto the back of his nose with his left index finger and made some thinking noises until he opened his eyes instantly.

“Stop shuffling!” he ordered, looking into Sho’s eyes directly and putting his hands onto the table. 

Sho did as Nino told, his eyes focusing onto Nino’s, who now again smiled mysteriously, “Now put the cards in one pile onto the table and part it into two piles which you place next to each other – that’s correct – now put your hands over the two piles, one over each, about 10 or 15 cm above in the air. Do you feel something? Which pile do you think has the card you chose in it?”

Sho was still looking puzzled at Nino. What kind of trick was that? Nino didn’t show it before, it must be a new one and Sho had no idea what was going to happen. His heartbeat raised as Nino still stared at him, making him a bit nervous.

“Relax, relax,” Nino smiled, “Just concentrate on the feeling in your hands. Doesn’t one of your hands tickle a bit? Take the pile underneath that hand and put the other away. These cards are out of the game. The card you chose is definitely in the pile, you’re hand is lying on right now. You don’t believe me?”

“What is this?” Sho started laughing. 

He looked down onto his hand, the one that had indeed tickled just a tiny little bit. And this should show him where he put his card? He couldn’t imagine that Nino would really be able to solve this trick. How was that supposed to work? But Nino seemed quite confident and his charming behavior made Sho even more curious about the outcome.

“Now part the pile again into two,” Nino continued, “Put your hands above them just like before.”

This time, Nino took Sho’s hands slightly in his. Sho cringed a little in surprise as Nino’s warm fingers touched the inner side of his hands. Nino chuckled and murmured his sorry but didn’t pull back and squinted Sho’s hands slightly instead.

“I already know where the card is. Do you know it as well?” he looked into Sho’s eyes again who had been staring at Nino’s hands until now and could feel his cheeks blush a little. 

Suddenly, Sho remembered that Ohno might still be watching the scene and he was really glad that he was facing his back to his boyfriend right now. It’s not that he _wanted_ to blush from Nino’s touch and from Nino’s straight, intense look into his eyes, not being sure if this was because of the excitement of the trick right now or because of Nino himself, but he couldn’t prevent it from happening either. Sho felt guilty towards Ohno, who’s presence he finally sensed even more clearly than ever for some reason. Sho fought with himself if he should pull his hands away from Nino’s or not. There wasn’t a reason for it, was there? Besides from Ohno probably getting jealous again, but he didn’t need to get jealous, did he?

“Which pile is it, what do you think?” Nino asked and pulled Sho back into reality.

Sho gulped and focused onto the cards again. He didn’t know why but something told him to take the left pile.

“Left one,” he said and Nino nodded satisfied.

“That’s what I think as well,” he said with a smile and finally let go off Sho’s hands, “Now choose a number between two and ten, quickly!”

“Four,” Sho blurt out excitedly, causing Nino to chuckle again, which made him blush deeper.

“Alright, now we’re almost there. Take the pile of cards you chose into your hand and put down four cards onto the table, lined up next to each other. Choose one card but don’t show me, which one. Just think about it. This card should be the card you chose at the beginning. And now, let’s take a look if that is correct and if I really know, which one it was. Don’t tell me, just look, alright?” Nino smiled and Sho nodded, curiously following Nino’s every action.

The young man lifted one hand and put it in the air, about 10 cm over the cards. He finally let his hand stop above the third card, tilting his head.

“Hm… somehow I’m not completely sure any longer. Maybe I’ll mess up this time, but I think it’s this card you chose. But – don’t tell me now. Just let me try.”

Sho looked at Nino, his eyes widening. He didn’t tell it but indeed, the third card was the one he thought about when Nino told him to choose one. How did he know that?! Nino let his hand wander further to the fourth card. Looking at Sho he smiled and shook his head.

“This one isn’t the right card, because you didn’t pick a four of spades,” he said, “Let’s check.”

He turned around the card and showed the front side of it – a four of spades. Sho gaped. 

“How do you do that?” he asked surprised but Nino just gave him a smirk.

The young man repeated this action with the second card, suggesting that Sho did not pick the diamond’s queen and again he was right. Now only the first and third card were left and Nino let his hand wander from the one to the other. 

“It was the third card you took, right? No – don’t tell me – I think I’m right,” Nino smirked, “So let’s check the first one. Club’s seven.” 

Again, Nino predicted the correct card and Sho’s nervousness increased. It was just incredible and still he had no idea how that trick worked. Well, maybe he wasn’t supposed to know it and maybe he didn’t even want to know it. It was simply impressive, fascinating, stunning and he liked the chill that tricks like this one gave away. 

“I think you chose a red card,” Nino started his last prediction, “a high number,” Sho looked straight into Nino’s eyes, whose smirk got more and more confident, “I guess - no, I _know_ – the card you chose… is the king of heart, isn’t it?”

Nino took the card into his hand and slowly lifted it at one side, the back of it still facing him and the number facing Sho and indeed, it was the king of hearts that faced Sho right now - the card that Sho chose in the beginning. His face lightened up from amazement, even more than it did until now. Nino really did it. He managed the trick – whatever trick it was – and it was just amazing!

“You are _so_ awesome!” Sho laughed and smiled broadly at Nino. He just couldn’t hold back. He brushed his hand over his mouth, still stunned, “I don’t get how that worked. I just don’t get it. That’s my card! You did it!”

Nino smiled even more, visibly happy that he managed his trick and that he had impressed Sho. Finally, he put his cards together again.

“And you are an awesome audience, thank you very much!” he smiled as he put his cards back into his pocket.

While Sho was still wondering about the secret behind Nino’s trick, laughing and asking Nino for hints - that the other of course refused to give - , Ohno came finally walking around the counter and approached the two laughing men. Nino stopped laughing on an instant as he saw Ohno’s angry face and looked at him with questioning eyes.

“I don’t want you to come here again,” Ohno said to Nino as he stopped in front of the young man.

Nino chuckled, “What?” he asked in disbelieve.

Sho finally turned around as well, looking at Ohno frowning, stood up and put his hand onto his boyfriend’s shoulder, “What are you talking about, Satoshi?”

“I mean it! It’s annoying how you distract all our customers – and Sho – with your dirty tricks and I don’t want you to come to my shop again with all your stupid magic and stuff. So, please –“ Ohno pointed at the door. 

Sho and Nino just stared at him. As Sho opened his mouth to tell Ohno off, Nino was faster. He stood up quickly and went towards Ohno, stopping in front of him and looking directly into the other man’s eyes.

“Is that how you treat customers?” Nino asked, his lips curling up to a challenging smirk, “I guess I already brought you a lot of customers through my small shows and you heard the girls just before – they are spreading good critique about the shop.”

“As if this was thanks to you,” Ohno hissed and shot a disgusted look at Nino.

“At least I’m not damaging your business. But well, if you can’t see the advantage for your shop in this situation, fine. I’m leaving,” Nino shrugged his shoulders and passed Ohno and Sho as he went getting his coat and hat from the hat stand next to the door.

“Nino –“ Sho wanted to hold him back but Ohno grabbed Sho’s hand and pulled him back, enforcing the grip around Sho’s wrist until it started hurting.

When Nino was fully dressed again, he turned around and gave Ohno another annoyed look, “I guess your problem is something completely different.…” he said, of course letting his eyes – his look softened - wander to Sho for a second, as if this was part of his statement. 

Sho gulped and nervously looked at Ohno, who suddenly let go off Sho’s wrist but therefore dashed forward to Nino. Already knowing, what would happen, Sho yelled Ohno’s name and tried to hold him back but everything happened so quickly, that it was already too late.

A second later, Nino almost lost balance as he stumbled backwards against the shop door after receiving a pretty hard punch against his chin.

“Fuck!” he hissed, bending down a little and lifting his hand to carefully touch his chin to check if everything was OK – at least as OK as it could be after that punch. Of course it was not, since he accidentally bit his own lip and some blood dripped onto his scarf. His glasses hang lose from one ear and he quickly fixed them.

“Satoshi! Are you crazy?!” Sho burst and hurried to Nino, put his hands onto the young man’s shoulders and looked at him, worrying, “Nino, you’re OK?”

“Sho, go away from him,” Ohno said in a low voice, still clenching his fist.

Sho looked at him in disbelieve, Nino still held his hurting chin and tried to prevent his scarf from getting even more dirty, but didn’t say anything more.

“You’re crazy, really, Satoshi. It‘s enough,“ Sho said, glaring at his boyfriend and blindly reached his hand to the next table for grasping a napkin to give it to Nino, who thankfully took it and pressed it slightly against his bleeding lip. One arm around Nino’s shoulders, Sho reached for the door, slightly pushing the young man out of the shop, “We’re leaving!” he said in a strict voice, directed to Ohno.

“FINE, then leave! And don’t even think about coming back tonight!” the other man yelled angrily and pushed Sho pretty hard against the door frame, just a second before the door fell shut and Sho – looking shocked even more – and Nino left him and a somehow scoffing sound of the entrance’s jingle behind.

\-----

„I’m so sorry, Nino, are you alright? Let me take a look!” Sho sounded desperate as he had followed Nino upstairs through the “Antique & Books” into the young man’s apartment.

Nino had headed straight into the bathroom and washed his mouth out to get rid of the disgusting bloody taste. With the image of Sho standing behind him wearing a worried look in the mirror, Nino frowning examined the hurting cut at his lip and then slowly opened and closed his mouth for a few times to check if his jaw was alright. As Sho wanted to get closer and asked again, if everything was OK, Nino put a piece of toilet paper against his still bleeding lip and lifted the other hand to calm Sho down.

“It’s alright Sho, don’t worry,” he smiled a bit, “It’s nothing serious and please don’t apologize. It’s not your fault; it was completely my own fault. I provoked him with my -”

“You didn’t do anything!” Sho cut Nino’s words and pulled Nino’s hand from his lip to check it by himself.

“Stop that, I’m fine, thank you!” Nino said and grabbed Sho’s wrist, “What about your shoulder? He pushed you quite hard -,” as he looked straight into Sho’s face, he suddenly spotted a small trace of tears running down the man’s cheeks, “Sho...“

Soon after, they settled down on the couch in Nino’s living room, and if his mood would have been better, Sho would have been quite amazed of the huge collection of books in Nino’s shelves. Nino poured some tea and then sat down onto the couch next to Sho. He offered him a cup and Sho took it in his hands with a small nod. His eyes were red-shot from crying. He would have been embarrassed if he wouldn’t be that desperate, frustrated, angry and feeling miserable because of what happened, because of what still was happening. Nino didn’t say a word about Sho’s breakdown. He just sat next to him and puffed against the surface of the hot steaming tea to cool it a little, which didn’t really worked because his lips were swollen and feeling slightly numb and so they didn’t move exactly as he wanted them to. Finally, Nino gave up and put his cup down onto the living room table. He turned around to Sho who was still holding his own cup, staring blankly into the air in front of him.

Nino sighed. He came a bit closer to Sho, leaning his shoulder slightly against the other man’s. He couldn’t keep silent any longer and so he decided to say something first.

“Sho?” he asked in a low voice, his eyes fixed on Sho’s face, who turned to him slowly. Nino cleared his throat before he asked, “Is this the first time, Ohno got violent?”

Sho tilted his head slowly, remembering the night when Ohno had been quite brutal towards him in bed. He wasn’t sure if this was to be considered as violence or just a bit loosing of control. Nino could sense that Sho was fighting with himself over the answer and just continued talking so that Sho didn’t have to answer.

“We have a problem, don’t we?” Nino asked and let his eyes wander through his living room, settling back against the backrest of his couch. 

“I’m sorry, Nino,” Sho said, “That I pulled you into our relationship problems.”

Nino sighed again. “Tell me more about it,” he finally said and Sho took a deep breath.

“It’s not that serious as you might think - he got angry often, yeah, but he didn't hit me or so – it’s just,” Sho paused to search for the right words, “He’s really, really jealous, you know? About everyone. He thinks that I’m flirting with our customers and that I would be cheating on him and it’s getting worse and worse, especially –“ there was another pause in which Sho completely turned to Nino, looking at him, “especially, since you appeared,” he finished his sentence almost whispering.

“Because of me?” Nino asked, lowering his head a bit.

Sho wondered if Nino really didn’t know it or if he was just deliberating about how much of this situation was probably his fault. He didn't like to blame Nino and he didn't mean it that way but it was a fact that Ohno's jealousy reached its peak since Nino opened his shop across the street and befriended with Sho. Nino looked guilty somehow. Maybe, because he had been teasing Ohno a little. Maybe because he was probably really flirting a bit with Sho, even if the other still wasn't sure if he was. But nothing out of this behavior was enough to be seen as a danger for Ohno’s and Sho’s relationship at least that was what Sho was thinking and what he also told Ohno before. He tried to lock away the fact, that his heart was pounding a little more than usual every time Nino was around and he tried to deny that he had been feeling happy a little every time Nino had looked at him with his fascinating eyes or every time Nino had flashed that adorable smile at him that Sho liked so much since they first met. 

“He thinks that you and me – that we are flirting all the time. And that you are trying to steal me away from him and stuff like that…,” Sho noticed the little stutter in his voice and tried to stable it again, “I’m really sorry, just voicing it makes clear, how ridiculous all of this is…”

After a few seconds, Nino leaned a bit forward, resting his elbows on his knees and brushed one hand through his hair. He sighed deeply. He turned to Sho, looking at him with those fascinating, dark eyes. Sho just stared back, waiting if there was something more to come.

“What –,” Nino started, obviously hesitating a bit, “What if I tell you that Ohno is right with his suspicion about me?” he asked, his lips curling up in a slight insecure smile, his eyes flickering a bit nervous.

Sho just stared at him before he found his speech again. “What do you mean?” he asked, swallowing.

“What if I really try flirting with you? And if I really do have the intention to make you mine?” Nino asked, trying to let his voice sound as casual and cool as possible.

Another few seconds of silence followed and Sho’s heart skipped a beat.

“You… do?” Sho asked finally, not being able to prevent his cheeks from blushing.

Just the next second, Nino lifted his face a little, moved towards Sho. He closed his eyes and Sho could feel Nino’s bruised, a bit swollen lips slightly pressing against his own. 

It was just a small kiss, a bit shy, a bit tense, but it was a kiss and Sho was dumbfounded. His eyes widened and his heart racing at an incredible speed, he stared at Nino who slowly pulled back, his eyes still closed and then opened them, meeting Sho’s gaze and blushed deeply. He pulled his lips in between his teeth, cursing silently as he felt the pain in his lower lip but he didn’t back off from what he was on to do, taking a deep breath before he started talking.

“I do,” he answered sincere, his eyes focusing on Sho’s, “I like you, you know? I like you a lot and since I met you I can’t keep my eyes off of you and I can’t stop thinking of you even if I try to distract myself with books and with my cards and everything. Of course I know that you have a boyfriend – I’m never lucky when it comes to love, you see - and it’s not that I want to ruin your relationship or anything,” Nino suddenly spilled out without catching a breath, “but I really do like you a lot and kinda wanted to try if you – if you maybe would like me as well – just a little bit – and I overdid it and I'm sorry but now I’m also really upset that your boyfriend is such a stupid guy who isn’t able to see how lucky he is to have you and instead ruins your relationship with his stupid jealously.”

Nino finally took another breath, still not finished with his speech as it seemed, “I know that you love him, and he’s so obsessed with you that I don’t know what else that could be called than “love” from his side but -,” his eyes turned even more desperate with each word he was spilling out, “are you sure that such a relationship is what you want? I can see that you’re getting annoyed and sad and you're even afraid of just doing one wrong step. You argue a lot with him, don’t you? You try to do everything right the way he wants you to. You even avoided me for his sake, didn’t you? And I didn’t respect that and forced myself into the lives of both of you, just because I couldn’t hold back. Sho, I’m really sorry for that and if you want me to leave you two alone, I'll do so.”

Sho just looked at Nino, still trying to process what he had heard just a second ago. He lowered his eyes to the ground, trying to get his thoughts into an order that made sense. 

Nino had made some tricks, he had amazed Sho and annoyed Ohno and then Ohno was at the end of his tether, feeling confirmed in his imagination of that there was something going on between Nino and Sho. He had hit Nino, pushed Sho and together they left the coffee shop and now they were sitting here and Nino had kissed Sho. More than that, he had even confessed that he had feelings for him and Sho’s heart was still pounding like crazy. He didn’t know how to react because on the one hand he was feeling guilty towards Ohno because of the kiss but on the other hand he just could think about the desire to kiss Nino again and now Sho knew that Ohno was right and there really was something going on between him and Nino. Even if he still wasn’t completely sure, what exactly it was

“Sho?” Nino asked unsettled after a few minutes of silence. 

“Eh?” the other voiced, still in some kind of shock state.

“I’m sorry if I surprised you but – gosh this is so embarrassing - don’t you have to say something about all this? I mean – you can kick me if you want to or whatever, just say something, please?” Nino’s hands had started to tremble slightly and his eyes had turned completely desperate. 

Sho opened his mouth as if he was going to say something but the truth was, that he simply had no idea, how and what he should answer Nino right now. He liked him. Of course. They had a lot in common and he was fascinated by Nino from the beginning. But did he like him that way? He was in a relationship, he shouldn’t like anyone else that way, right? But Nino was right and things were complicated and not as beautiful and good as they had been and the relationship with Ohno had already started falling apart _before_ Nino had shown up. 

“I – I’m sorry, Nino, I’m just a bit confused – I guess I have to talk to Satoshi,” Sho figured and stood up, turning his look to the miserable and nervous looking Nino again, “You know, it’s not that I don’t like you. In fact, I like you a lot but I’m not sure if I can answer your feelings. As you said yourself – I have got a boyfriend, after all,” Sho tried to laugh it off since he wasn’t able to handle the situation otherwise, “I – please, could you just wait a little bit?”

Nino looked at Sho with his big puppy eyes, trying to catch the situation. He didn't know how he should interpret Sho's words.

“Alright,” was everything he could say, his heart pounding like crazy.

Sho promised to contact Nino later on and hurried downstairs, out of the shop and back to his own place where Ohno already had cleaned up everything and closed the shop for customers. Fiddling his keys out of his pocket, Sho nervously unlocked the door and went inside the shop, immediately shouting Ohno’s name as he went upstairs and burst the door to their apartment open.

“Satoshi – we need to talk,” Sho said, pulling together all of his courage.

Ohno was sitting on the couch in the dark, only a small lamp standing on a shelf nearby was lightning up the room a bit. Nervously, Sho came closer, looking at Ohno who just stared at him with a sad face. Carefully, Sho sat down onto the couch as well, not missing to leave some space between them. He didn’t want to accuse Ohno of getting violent again but things made him a bit scared and when he thought about what he was going to tell him, he wasn’t sure how Ohno would react.

“Look, you were right, OK?” Sho started after taking a deep breath and meeting Ohno’s piercing look, “You were right, Nino likes me. He just told me.”

Ohno just made a snorting sound as if he was about to say that he already knew that he was right.

“And I have to be honest to you,” Sho continued, his voice starting to tremble a little from nervousness and his eyes shyly dropping to the floor, “It’s not that I wanted it and that I flirted with him on purpose or anything… but I have to admit, that I’m somehow interested in him as well,” he finally let out.

Waiting a few seconds for Ohno’s answer, Sho kneaded his hands, feeling his heartbeat increasing. But to his surprise, Ohno didn’t answer but just looked at him, biting his lip.

“Satoshi?” Sho asked, not sure if he should continue explaining or wait for an answer.

Ohno sighed and ruffled his hair, “It’s my fault, isn’t it?” he finally asked, his face looking so damned sad that it hurt Sho to see him like that, “Because I got so jealous and possessing… I know that, Sho. But I can’t control it. It kills me, to see you with others, it just kills me and I wish I could lock you in all day long and just keep you for myself. It was my stupid behavior, that made you wanna break out of what I made out of our relationship, right? I guess it’s really my own fault that you got interested in that guy… how ironic…”

“I don’t know, when it started, or why… but yeah. To be honest, I got insecure about our relationship. I started thinking that you don’t love me anymore. It’s no fun any longer when it's just the two of us. I’m not happy any longer and I think you aren’t happy any longer either and I don’t know – I don’t think – that we can fix this, to be honest.”

Sho knew that his words might be hard but that was what he was currently feeling, a bit surprised by himself because he was using the excuse of wanting to fix things with Ohno for so long in order to keep himself from admitting what he really started to feel for Nino. This way it might be hard, but at least fair to all of them.

“I don’t know,” Ohno said, his voice breaking, “I just know that I’m sorry that I hurt you, Sho. And that I acted like an asshole because of my jealousy. But if I can’t make you mine completely, I don’t know if I can stand being with you any longer. It scares me that I can be so cruel, I might hurt you again because of my lack of control. I don’t want that to happen.”

Ohno looked at Sho with sad eyes, full of remorse, despair and slowly filling with tears. Sho's heart was feeling heavy. Knowing that Ohno was sorry for everything made things quite hard right now because that showed him that somewhere in there, there was still the man who he fell in love with, years ago. But he figured, that their time was up. They went through good times and bad times but spinning around in circles in a dead end now didn’t bring them forward. It seemed like it was time for them to take separate paths, maybe this was the best solution.

“Satoshi, I loved you. Maybe I still do. But maybe it’s also best for both of us to end this,“ Sho finally voiced what was hanging in the air between them for so long already, just realizing for how long actually.

\-----

After their conversation, Ohno had announced that he would pack his stuff and stay at Jun’s place for a while until he found something new. They agreed that Sho would take over the coffee shop alone, even if Sho wasn’t sure if he would be able to handle it on his own, but he wasn’t in the position of demanding else from Ohno right now. If his ex-boyfriend wanted to leave, that was his right. 

Sho waited until Ohno had gotten his most important stuff – telling him that he would pick up the rest within the next few days – and left the apartment. He sat there on the couch for a few minutes in silence to let the situation sink in. He didn’t really feel good. Of course not. He just ended a relationship that had lasted for years and that had at least for a long time been a precious time in his life. He cried another few tears before he pulled himself together and stood up again. At least there was something left to do.

A few minute later – hoping that his eyes didn’t look too red because he had already cried once in front of Nino that day – he stood across the street, ringing the bell to Nino’s apartment. He had promised to come back and he already felt guilty that it took him so long. The time on his watch told him, that it was already past midnight. Hopefully, Nino wasn’t already asleep or even worse – already stopped waiting for Sho.

But Nino was still awake, Sho learned quickly, as he heard hurried steps running down the stairs somewhere in the book shop and someone switched on the lights. It took Nino only a few more seconds to get to the door and to unlock it – well, it took him a second longer since he dropped the keys once and Sho could hear him cursing behind the door. 

As the door burst open, Nino looked at him, his eyes widened in a mixture of surprise, nervousness and relief. His lips were still swollen a little, Sho noticed.

“Sho -,” Nino just stated, looking straight into the other man’s eyes, “I – I already thought you wouldn’t come back, is everything OK?” Nino asked nervously, “What did you do? You wanted to talk to Ohno, so what did you talk about, did you get hurt or something?”

Feeling Nino’s worried eyes examining him from head to toes from behind his glasses, Sho couldn’t help but smile a little bit. Even if he was quite feeling bad right now because of what had happened just a few minutes ago, Nino already managed again to make his heart feel a little bit lighter, to make the world look a little bit brighter.

“Don’t worry, Nino,” Sho answered, voicing his hones wish but not telling him that he was not hurt because that would have been a lie, “We talked everything out.”

Nino looked at Sho curiously, waiting if he would tell him something more. Sho took a deep breath before he wanted to continue explaining.

“We broke up,” was everything that Sho was able to say then. 

There was so much to tell and not to tell, not now and not to Nino, but that was the essential information Nino needed to get the situation.

“Oh,” he just stated and then there was an awkward silence between them.

Sho lifted his hands and made some nervous gestures as he tried to find the right words. This was so much more difficult than he had expected, somehow.

“You know, it’s the best solution for all of us this way,” he started, knowing that he couldn’t say more about that, “You said, you like me, right?”

Nino nodded.

“The point is –,” Sho scratched his chin, “I like you as well.”

Nino stared at Sho in disbelieve.

“I don’t know if I like you the same way you like me though - you know, I just broke up with my boyfriend and everything – but I think I like you a lot and maybe, we should try and see were this will lead us.”

Nino smiled warmly, his eyes showing excitement happiness. Sho turned his lips up into a smile as well.

“I might need some time though... Are you free on Saturday evening in three weeks?” he asked and Nino smiling nodded again.

\-----

A few months later, when spring was turning into summer and the kittens in the street had grown up to cats and were just lying around, too lazy to play because of the increasing heat, Sho had almost managed the coffee shop business on his own. He had had a quite troublesome time all alone, not really able to make good coffee and Ohno, who had started working at “J's pastries” had of course snapped away a lot of his customers but since Sho had hired a young cute woman and increased his skills in coffee making, customers returned.

“Chiharu-chan, can you please wash the dishes quickly?” Sho asked his employee and turned around to the entrance door as he heard the jingle that announced a new customer.

“Welcome,” Sho smiled friendly and his smile got even broader, when he recognized Nino, flashing his typical adorable smile at Sho.

He was wearing a straw hat that looked totally stupid and Sho already started laughing as he knew what was following next. As expected, the young man pulled off the hat and some little blossoms of sunflowers immediately spilled out of it. 

„Nino, how beautiful!“ Sho smiled and Nino just looked at him with a broad smile as he held the hat towards Sho. 

“I thought it was time for new decoration and Aiba gave me those a bit cheaper because the stalks were a bit damaged from the delivery,” the young man said, picked up the everywhere scattered flowers and started to decorate the small vases which stood on each table with them, to the fully enjoying of the shop's customers.

As he returned to Sho, the other already had prepared a black coffee for him which he reached out to him. As Nino took it in his hands, Sho bent forward quickly, placing a small kiss onto Nino's lips.

“Thank you, Darling,” he whispered and Nino smirked.

 

_THE END_

**Author's Note:**

> Written for obstilation (I hope I tagged the correct persion here on AO3?) in the Sakumiya Exchange 2013 @ lj. Submissive Sho is something I usually don’t write, same applies for Yama… I'm happy to know now that obstilation liked how it turned out and I'm really relieved! :D Also my entry happened to rank 1st place in the exchange contest, I'm really really surprised and happy about this, thanks again to everyone who voted for my story! <3 This exchange was really great, all of the Sakumiyafanfictions were great, I had a lot of fun reading all the different stories, thanks so much to the other writers for sharing their stories with us! And last but not least a big thanks to my beta airifan as usual ^^ <3


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